Description

The Ocean of Tears is a vast expanse of water that lies between the continents
of Antonica and Faydwer. Boats frequently travel between the Butcherblock
Mountains and Freeport, taking travellers of all types over the ocean.
There are two distinct routes, and each boat only stops at one dock in
Ocean of Tears before finishing its journey.

The vast expanses of ocean are punctuated with many small, isolated islands
(hence the name, Ocean of Tears, as if the islands were tear drops). Each
of these islands is a world unto itself, and the intrepid explorer can
travel between them by using canoes that are pulled up on the shores of
some of the more populated islands.

Dangers

The Ocean of Tears is quite a high level area, with some monsters of
level 30 or 40 and higher roaming the islands. Of all the creatures around,
the only ones listed that aren't aggressive are the aviaks and the alluring
sirens, who will generally leave you alone if you leave them alone. All
of the other monsters will attack on sight.

Also, fighting in the Ocean of Tears is very different than fighting
anywhere else. There are no guards to train monsters to if you get over
your head. There is no handy zone edge to cross in order to escape. The
only escape for most is to Gate if they can, and I've heard that running
far enough into the water will deter monsters from chasing you, but this
is at best an unreliable method of escape. Therefore, choosing battles
carefully becomes very important.

The area is also dangerous because of the vast expanses of water and
the difficulty in travelling across it, whether by swimming or by canoe.
Taking canoes is a relatively safe, if slow, method of travelling around,
but one must be careful to not right-click anywhere on the screen, because
doing so will "uncaptain" you from the boat and you'll run straight
off the end into the water. It is possible to get back into the boat,
but requires quite a bit of timing and coordination, and sometimes you
just can't do it. Swimming from the middle of nowhere to an island is
also not fun, and dangerous as sharks will attack you.

The canoes here are also not very reliable. Pay special attention to
islands that do not have boats on them. The boats reset about every hour
of real time or so, and if you're not in your boat or used it recently,
it will vanish back to its starting point. This means two things. One
is that if you are hunting on an island with no canoes, and you don't
use the canoe every now and again, it will vanish and you will be stuck
swimming off of the island. It also means that sometimes canoes aren't
where you expect them to be, as someone took them a while ago or the canoe
you thought spawned in that spot was actually just left there. Be aware
of these problems and plan accordingly.

The only other problem with this area, which isn't a danger just an annoyance,
is that there are few shops around. Although you can make good money and
loot in this area at lower levels, hunting critters like aqua goblins
who always drop a bow and arrows, as well as occasionally a rusty weapon,
you will rapidly become encumbered and wind up throwing out stuff. Lighten
your load coming in or you will be losing a lot of money...

Benefits

This area has become one of my favorite areas of the game. It is usually
completely unpopulated with players and has the feel that the game was
supposed to have, that of being out in the middle of uncharted territory,
adventuring. This is probably the least frequently travelled areas of
the game (other than the boats), and there are probably a hundred players
who have ever seen the Allizewsaur, I'd guess. There is little competition
for hunting here, very little camping and lots of good loot. Everquest
the way I remember from the beta...

Several areas are especially good for hunting. Hunting aqua goblins and
alluring sirens on their two groups of islands can be lucrative for a
solo player of level 12-14 or so, or groups a little bit lower. Just be
careful that there are no boats on them. They are also good for archers,
because the aqua goblins carry arrows with them, ensuring a constant supply
for hunting with. The aviak island is good for 13th level and higher solo
players because the starlings all /con blue to a 13th level character.
There are also a good range of even through tombstone other aviaks, which
begin to appear more as the starling population strangely dwindles. The
plus of the aviaks is that they never catch on that you are killing their
young, and I've butchered probably 50 starlings without them becoming
aggressive. Other areas of the islands are good hunting for people of
the appropriate levels, probably nearer to 30th to hunt gargoyles, seafury
cyclops, and spectres. And if you plan on taking out the Allizewsaur,
let me know so I can come watch...

What else can I say? I can go on and on about how awesome this area is
to adventure in, but I would be restating what I've said above. All of
the problems in Everquest seem to vanish when I'm hunting here, and I'm
not looking forward to when I reach a higher level and have to move on
to different areas.

Travelling To and From
Ocean Of Tears

The map is very confusing, mostly because I think Verant was confused
when they set up this area. According to the geography of Norrath, Faydwer
lies to the southeast of Antonica. On this map, you go west from Antonica
to get to Faydwer. Don't ask me to explain, that's just the way it is.

That being said, the boat travelling from Butcherblock Mountains docks
shortly after entering the Ocean of Tears, and then keeps a pretty steady
course across the southern edge of the zone. The boat coming from Freeport
dock at the Island of the Sisters of Erollisi, and then take a route through
the center of the ocean, passing by many of the islands before taking
its passengers to Faydwer.